Snap-on type diaper



Dec. 16, 1952 E. E. DOTSON 2,621,656

SNAP-0N TYPE DIAPER Filed July 10, 1950 JNVENTOR. Ea/d f. flofso/i endsthereof, the panel Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESNAP-N TYPE DIAPER Eula E. Dotson, Holliday, Kans. 7 Application July10, 1950, Serial No. 172,989

2 Claims.

This invention relates broadly to the field of garment manufacture andparticularly to coverings for infants, the primary object being toprovide a diaper having many advantageous features including aprotecting pad of absorbent material and means to permit readyattachment to the body of the infant while maintaining the mostimportant factor, cheapness and simplicity in construction.

This is a continuation in part of my co-pending application, Serial No.66,315, filed December 20, 1948, and has for one of its primary objects,to improve upon the diaper therein disclosed and claimed, andparticularly to permit the use of certain advantageous fasteningelements not disclosed in said application.

It is an important aim of the present invention to provide a diaperconstituting a doublewall panel made from an initially fiat, elongatedsheet of fabric material folded intermediate the having strips ofmaterial adjacent each end thereof respectively and between the layersto present added thickness capable of adequately supporting cooperativefastening elements for securing the diaper to the infant.

Other aims and objects of the present invention include the provisionof. a. diaper having an absorbent pad between the double walls thereofand secured to the marginal edges by the same stitching that enclosesthe body; to provide a strip adjacent the line of fold of the sheet ofmaterial that is stitched directly thereto for disposition within thehollow body when the same is inverted during the steps of manufacture;and to provide hem structure at that end of the diaper opposite to thefold for strengthening the same in the same manner as provided forthrough use of the separate strip adjacent the line of fold.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a snap-on diaper made in accordancewith my present invention, showing its manner of use.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the complete diaper.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal, substantially, central, cross-sectional viewtaken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Fig.3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the initially flat sheet of fabric showing thetransverse strip and the pad positioned thereon; and

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal, cross-sectional view taken on line VI-VI ofFig. 5.

In many respectsthe diaper hereof is like that disclosed in my aforesaidco-pending application, but experience has proved that the diaper of myformer application can be rendered capable of more adequately supportingfastening elements of the snap action type. Such elements require arelatively strong, sturdy support and in order to better adapt thediaper to use of such fastening means while maintaining the advantagessetforth in the early application, the garment about to be described,has been developed. I

The complete diaper hereof is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive ofthe drawing and is broadly designated by the numeral l0. Diaper I0 is ofa double-wall construction and is made from an initially flat, elongatedfabric sheet l2, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6.

As hereinafter to be made clear, the sheet of material [2 is folded on asubstantially central, transverse line to present a pair of superimposedidentical layers l4 and I6. I

The first step in the manufacture of diaper I0, includes superimposingan elongated fabric strip [8 upon one face of the sheet l2 andtransversely thereof adjacent and to one side of the aforesaid centralline. The length of the strip i8 is the same as the width of the sheetf2 and is secured to the latter throughout the length of the strip l8 bya line of stitching 20 that extends longitudinally of strip [8 andadjacent one marginal edge thereof. Accordingly, the

strip 18 is entirely to one side of the layer 14 and in overlappingrelationship to the layer l6. -A pad 22 made of a highly absorbent,preferably fabric material, is thereupon superimposed upon that face oflayer 16 having strip [8 thereon. A number of laminated layers '24comprise the pad 22 and it is noted that the latter has a length that isequal to the width of the sheet [2 and to the length of the strip IS.The width of pad 22 however, is appreciably less than the length oflayer l6 and pad 22 is positioned on layer IS in spaced relationship tothe strip [8 and outermost edge 26 of layer 16.

The sheet I2 is thereupon folded on the aforesaid median, transverseline to dispose those surfaces of layers l4 and I6 opposite to strip 18and pad 22 in face-to-face relationship. presenting therefore, a line offold 28. The longitudinal edges of both layers l4 and [6 are thereuponfolded outwardly together with the outermost marginal edges of pad 22and the ends of strip l8 and two lines of stitching 30 and 32 are sewedin parallelism and extending perpendicular to the line of fold 28. Apair of opposed hems is thereby formed whereby the finished diaper I0has four thicknesses along the longitudinal marginal edges thereof andeight thicknesses adjacent the pad 22. Such stitching 30 and 32 alsosecures the ends of the strip I8 and further reinforces the same. Theoperator thereupon inverts the layers I4 and I6, or turns the hollowbody insideout to dispose the pad 22 and the strip I8 within the garmentI0 and between layers I4 and I6. If one end of the sheet I2 is asel-vage edge, it is but necessary to form a single hem 34 upon one ofthe layers I4 or I6 that is turned inwardly and such hem 34 is securedto the opposite layer I4 or I6 as the case may be by a line of stitching35 adjacent end 26 of sheet I2 in parallelism with line of fold 28. Ifdesired however, a pair of hems may be formed on that end of the garmentI0 opposite to the line of fold 28.

The last step in the manufacture of diaper II is to clamp a plurality ofcooperative fastening elements 38 and 40 thereto. It is noted in Fig. 3that the interlocking ends of the elements 33 and 40 extend oppositelyand that such elements are disposed in a pair of parallel lines adjacentthe ends of'the diaper I 0. The elements 38 pass through three layers ofmaterial including layer I4, layer IE and the elongated strip I8.Likewise, as shown in Fig. 3, the elements 48 pass through at leastthree thicknesses of material including layers I4 and It and hem 34.Diaper I0 is thereupon ready to be placed in use in the manner shown inFig. 1 of the drawing.

Pad 22 is securely held in place intermediate the ends of the diaper IIIby lines of stitching BI and 32 and the strip I8 is not only heldagainst displacement by line of stitching 20 but by the fasteningelements 38. The strip I8 and the hem 34 present the necessarysupporting means for the elements 3.8 and 40 and the latter can therebybe used in a garment of this character without fear of tearing loose orbecoming displaced during continued use and laundering. By suchconstruction, bulkiness is eliminated while elements 38 and 40 areprovided with the necessary support and it is to be further noted thatall of the advantages of my aforesaid application, relating to speed andcheapness of construction, are maintained.

As fully set forth in the aforesaid application, speed of manufacture isincreased tremendously by the steps above analyzed since an operator caneasily and quickly superlmpose the strip I8 and the pad 22 upon thesheet I2, fold the latter, sew the stitching 30 and 32 to join certainof the edges of the layers I4 and I6, and thereupon invert the entiregarment for the final fastening step that includes forming ofhem 34 andsewing in stitching 36.

The present diaper is likewise subject to additional changes andmodifications that fairly come within the spirit of this invention asdefined by the scope of the appended claims, are contemplated hereby.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A diaper comprising a pair of identical. rectangular, superimposed,fabric sections; a straight, transverse line of fold integrally joiningthe sections at one end thereof, each section having a pair of straight,parallel, marginal side edges, and a straight, marginal end edgeparallel with said line of fold; an elongated, rectangular fabric padbetween the sections, said pad having a length equal to the width of thesections and a width equal to approximately three-fifths of the lengthof the sections, and being disposed midway between said line of fold andthe end edges of the sections, the longitudinal edges of the pad beingstraight and parallel with the line of fold, the end edges of the padbeing straight and flush with the side edges of the section, saidmarginal side edges of the sections and the marginal end edges of thepad being in-turned; a pair of straight parallel lines of stitchingjoining said in-turned marginal edges of the sections and the pad; aline of stitching joining said marginal end edges of the sections; and arelatively narrow fabric strip secured to said sections along saidtransverse line of fold.

2'. Adiaper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fabric strip isdisposed between the sections to one side of the line of fold and inspaced parallelism to the proximal longitudinal edge of the pad.

EULA E. DOTSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,366,002 Carden Dec. 26, 19442,410,374 Wiese et al. Oct. 29, 1946 2,476,869 Hughes July 19, 19492,508,811 Best et a1 May 23, 1950 2,511,036 Baxmeyer et al. June 13,1950

